Thomas Hampson, whose European opera career has outpaced
engagements in his native country, is now appearing with more
frequency in U.S. opera houses. This month, San Francisco Opera
welcomes the baritone's first stateside Macbeth; later this season,
he'll sing Germont at Lyric Opera of Chicago and Don Carlo in the
Met's Ernani. DAVID J. BAKER listens in.

In the early 1950s, opera fans tuned in for the DuMont Network's
Opera Cameos, a weekly anthology series that presented
half-hour abridgements of the classics - with casts that included
Beverly Sills, Ettore Bastianini and Salvatore Baccaloni. SCOTT
BARNES savors the gold in these broadcasts, now available for
viewing at Manhattan's Paley Center for Media.